Physics-Enhanced Learning as a Driver for Twinning and Condition Assessment

November 20, 2024 | 12:00pm – 1:00pm EST

Modern engineering structures, such as transport and energy structures, face variable loads and demanding environments, underscoring the need for efficient and resilient operations. Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) provides a pathway to this end by diagnosing a system's current health condition and forecasting its future behavior and capacity. This presentation explores the potency in combining physics-based insights with data-driven methods and domain knowledge for accomplishing advanced modelling and predictive tasks. By conceptualizing these infrastructures as cyber-physical systems, we develop dynamic and adaptive digital twins, which evolve continuously alongside their physical counterparts. The talk will explore the layers involved in creating augmented twin representations and examine the role of Physics-enhanced Machine Learning in model discovery and reliable, real-time predictive modeling under uncertainty. We further discuss how assessment can be scaled from individual assets to the fleet/system level to support optimal decision-making for the management of engineered systems.

Presenter

Eleni Chatzi is a Full Professor and Chair of Structural Mechanics and Monitoring at the Institute of Structural Engineering of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering of ETH Zürich. She currently serves as the President of the European Academy of Wind Energy (EAWE). Her research interests include the fields of Structural Health Monitoring (SHM), hybrid modelling for digital twinning, and data-driven decision support for engineered systems. Her work in the domain of self-aware infrastructure was recognized with an ERC STarting grant, the 2020 ASCE Huber Research prize, the 2020 EASD Junior Research Prize in the area of Computational Structural Dynamics, the JM Ko Award and the 2024 SHM Person of the Year award.

Kostas’ research interests include the development, analysis and design of response-modification devices for the protection of structures against natural and man-made hazards; the seismic resilience of buildings; and the strengthening and stability of temporary structures. He has worked as a site engineer and as a bridge designer in Greece, Germany and the UK, while he was the project leader for the design and construction of a block of seven ecological sanitation (eco-san) cubicles including a rainwater harvesting system for hand washing and cleansing in the Kumi Hospital in Uganda (2016-2019). Kostas is a Chartered Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers (CEng MICE) in the UK and a Member of Task Groups 1.1 ‘Improving Seismic Resilience of Reinforced Concrete Structures’ and 4.1 ‘Bearings & Joints’ of the International Association of Bridge and Structural Engineering (IABSE). He has been honored with several prizes and awards, including the O.H. Ammann Research Fellowship in Structural Engineering from the ASCE.